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Connecticut has become the first state to legalize same-sex unions without being forced to do so by a court. Only an hour after the Connecticut Senate gave final approval to a bill April 20, Republican Governor Jodi Rell signed into law the legal provisions giving gays the same benefits and responsibilities as marriage.

Similar to another bill passed previously by the legislative body, the new one included an amendment tacked on in the state House of Representatives assuring that the term “marriage” would be reserved for heterosexual unions.

The Episcopal Church Executive Council has decided to “voluntarily withdraw” its three official participants from a June global steering committee meeting of the worldwide Anglican Communion. A voluntary withdrawal until 2008 from the Anglican Consultative Council was requested in February by an international meeting of Anglican primates, or chief bishops, in light of widespread criticism of the election of an openly gay Episcopal bishop in New Hampshire. The statement was issued April 13 by the council.